Anywhere You Go, I'll Follow You Down
by Purple Eyed Cat
Summary: Mel and Joe deal with the aftermath, in two parts. Major spoilers for 3x15, "What Happens in Jersey, Part 2." One-shot, complete.
1. Countdown

**A/N: Well, that season finale was a beautiful thing...except for the last minute and a half. What gives, ABC Family? Since Melissa & Joey is getting a Christmas special this year, and they seem rather close in the preview, this is my attempt at explaining the aftermath of the season finale and bridging the gap between now and Christmas, and try to tie up a few loose ends. May also count as some of the sloppiest writing I've ever down, since most of this is just me emoting on the page. **

**Disclaimer: None of this is mine. The title comes from "Follow You Down" by the Gin Blossoms. **

**Summary: **Mel and Joe deal with the aftermath. Major spoilers for 3x15, "What Happens in Jersey, Part 2." One-shot, complete.

* * *

Anywhere You Go, I'll Follow You Down

Countdown (Part 1)

_48 hours before…_

"This is definitely one of the weirdest things we've ever done," Mel Burke mutters to the man beside her, but follows anyway as he strides into the building, the tinny bell over the door jangling at their arrival.

The graying man behind the counter smiles at them, and Mel tries to smile back. _Why did I agree to this again? _

The man beside her shares no such reservations. He gives the other man a charming smile. "We're looking for wedding rings."

The man looks them up and down, from Mel's clinging sheath dress in blue to Joe's comfortable jeans and sweater. "It's for a play we're in," Mel hastens to add, and the slight crease between his brows clears, and he nods in understanding.

"This way," he beckons, and slides three feet down the glass display case that doubles as the pawn shop's counter. Joe moves as well, but Mel lags behind, once again wondering what she was thinking, agreeing to this crazy plan. Then Joe turns to jerk his head towards the counter, giving her a slight smile, and she remembers.

Joe is wearing his old wedding ring this weekend—which is really weird when Mel thinks about it, and she tries not to think about it—but her one-time engagement ring was sold years ago, so she needs another to look the part. Joe didn't dare ask Tiffany for her ring back—he knows she already sold it for the best price she could get.

Mel moves up to stand beside Joe at the counter, taking in the flash of gold and silver jewelry without really seeing any of it. She taps her fingers against the glass, until the warmth of Joe's hand over hers silences her. She looks up in confusion, and he gives her that little smile again, one that is coupled with the slight downward drag of his eyebrows, his silent question clear: _You okay? _

She nods her affirmation, and Joe taps the glass over his chosen prop. "That one." They don't pay much for it, but Joe doesn't take it out of the bag until they're in the car.

"It's just so sparkly!" Mel gushes in her Tiffany voice as Joe takes her hand. He doesn't smile at her imitation, but just watches her, his dark eyes intent.

"Mel, you'd tell me if you didn't want to this, right?"

"Is it too late to back out?" Mel jokes in her real voice, and Joe's grip on her hand tightens.

"Is that what you want? Mel, look, I really appreciate you doing this for me, but if you change your mind, I can just tell Nona Tiffany got sick…"

"No!" Mel protests, wiggling her fingers in invitation. "I said I'll do it, and I'm doing this. Put a ring on it, Longo!"

Joe does so, but he only gives a ghost of smile in response to her joke. His gaze is intent on her hand, and he seems to have trouble meeting her gaze. His fingers are warm against her hand, and for a moment they both watch mesmerized as the gold band sparkling with diamonds slides onto her finger to nestle against her hand—the perfect fit.

Mel looks at the man across from her and sighs, resigned to an interesting weekend. _I'm doing this for you_.

* * *

_24 hours before…_

Mel fidgets in the passenger seat for the fourth time in an hour, and Joe gives her a look from where he sits behind the wheel. "Mel, you okay?" It hasn't escaped his notice that she's been restless ever since they crossed the state line into Jersey.

"Yeah," she admits slowly, touching a hand to her hair-sprayed hair, the cheap gold bangles rattling on her wrists. "This is just weird, Joe."

"I know," Joe replies soothingly—they've had this conversation three times during the trip already. The kids are asleep in the backseat, but they keep their voices down anyway. "It'll be okay. Ma, Theresa-they all know the truth. The only one you have to fool is Nona."

"What if we can't?" Mel's voice is quiet, but he hears the trepidation. She gestures to herself. "I don't really look like Tiffany."

Joe chuckles. "I don't think you understand how bad Nona's eyesight is."

Mel doesn't look convinced, and so Joe reaches over with his free hand to squeeze hers where it rests between them on the console. "It'll be okay, Mel. One weekend, and we'll never speak of it again, I promise."

This gets a laugh out of Mel. "I'll hold you to that, Longo." Pleased he managed to reassure her, Joe squeezes her hand again. He tries not to think about the fact that the hand in his bears a wedding ring—one that he purchased and put on her hand himself. Someone who was prone to over-thinking things would find too much symbolism in that. But he doesn't over-think things like that.

At all.

* * *

_That night… _

That night, they go from the earth to the moon and back. Several times, if she's being honest (and she is, for once). It may have begun in a haze of rabbit-infused liquor—or something like that—but at some point, she recognizes what they're doing. And she thinks that maybe, this is what she's wanted all along.

That night, they go from the earth to the moon and back. He hadn't had as much Brew of the Rabbit as Mel, so he isn't quite as drunk. Still, he thinks for a brief moment what happens after they discover the door is locked might be a drunken fantasy, but then Mel's lips are on his and finally (_finally!_) he can reciprocate with all the pent-up passion of the last three years, and he wraps himself up in Mel, only Mel, because she is what he wants most.

* * *

_The aftermath… _

Then it all goes to hell in handbasket. Joe might have been fine with his mom walking in on them and Lennox finding out, because the mortification from those two events was salved by Mel's whispered, _Why do you have to be so good? _Those words are a very nice boost to his ego, but more importantly than that, something warms in his chest at the rich purr in her whisper, and he looks at her even as they desperately try to act like nothing happened when around others, and he thinks that maybe, maybe this is what they need to try to start something.

But it still goes downhill: Mel swears a deathbed oath she then denies she meant, his Nona—God, his _Nona_—is dead, and Mel leaves just as he tries to talk things out.

Things are not going well. But his mother always knows best, so he bundles the kids into the car and breaks several traffic laws trying to get home to Toledo.

_Home. _That house is home to him, that woman is home, the two kids he would give his life for are his home now.

Lennox is asking questions he is finally ready to answer, and her affirmation is everything he needs. Emboldened by her confidence, he walks through that door…

And finds that his sense of home is slightly skewed, that the pieces of his life are not quite done falling in around him.

He stares at the sight of Mel with Austin just behind her, stunned beyond the simple utterance of the other man's name. He looks at Mel, and those pleading blue eyes, that gaze that tells him that she is confused and unsure and doesn't know how to handle this, that decides him.

He turns around and leaves.

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated! **


	2. I'll Follow You Down

**A/N: And on to Part 2! **

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. The title comes from "Follow You Down," by the Gin Blossoms. **

**Summary: **Mel and Joe deal with the aftermath. Major spoilers for 3x15, "What Happens in Jersey, Part 2." One-shot, complete.

* * *

Anywhere You Go, I'll Follow You Down

I'll Follow You Down (Part 2)

Mel stares in consternation as the door slams behind Joe, but before it can even fully close, she hears Lennox.

"What the hell?!"

Ignoring her niece for the moment, she starts across the room, halting for a split second as a sound pierces the quiet: a car starts, an engine is gunned. Too close to be anything but her own driveway.

_No_.

Mel hurries to the door, but she is too late. She finds the frozen tableau of Lennox and Ryder on the porch, (does Ryder have a _rat _on his shoulder?), and the heart-breaking sight of tail-lights disappearing around the corner.

Lennox turns to her aunt and gives her the narrow-eyed, scowling glare that only a pissed-off teenager can muster. "Aunt Mel, what the hell did you do?"

"Watch your tongue," Mel corrects absently, still staring after the car. Why did he leave?

Lennox turns and catches sight of an awkward Austin hovering just beyond the door, and her scowl deepens. "_Oh._ Geeze, Aunt Mel, what's wrong with you?"

Ryder looks between the two women and the missing car in confusion. "What just happened?"

* * *

If he flew on the drive back to Toledo, the drive back to Jersey is hell. Joe is a man who has been crushed, and so he is escaping to the only place he feels safe: home. If you had asked him minutes ago, he would have said that home was the house he had just left, but now it's with a family who needs him. (Actually, he needs them more at the moment.) Several times, the darkness on either side of the car seems to be closing in, threatening to choke him, and the night that seemed so wide and open and full of possibilities only hours before is an empty void.

Funny how a few hours can change things so completely.

It's the early hours of the morning when he makes it back, and he stands on the stoop while he rings the bell, having forgotten his key in the luggage he didn't grab on his flight, and his mother's mutterings on the other side of the door are not complimentary.

"…string you up and feed you to the dogs, don't you know we just lost someone, what's wrong with you...?" She falters at the sight of Joe. "Joey, what happened?"

Joe can't meet her eye. If he does, he's sure he'll cry. The warm light behind his mother blurs, then is blotted out by two familiar shapes: Tony and Theresa have come to the door.

"Mel…" he blows out a deep breath and blinks the tears from his eyes. "Chose someone else."

The sharp indrawn gasp from his mother is comfort and reassurance enough; Tony curses, harsh against the night air, and Theresa props a hand on her hip, muttering several unkind things about Mel.

Joe stands there until Gloria opens her arms, and then he climbs the last step and is folded into her embrace. Murmuring softly into his ear, she leads him inside, Tony and Theresa falling behind like sentinels.

* * *

Mel lasts three days.

Three days of Lennox glaring, of Ryder scowling, of knowing there is something off-kilter about their household but being stubborn enough to try to ignore it. She tries to lose herself in Austin, but he is spooked, and keeps insisting that she "settle things with Joe" before they try again. So, grumbling to herself, Mel takes a few days off work, drags the kids to the airport (well, there's no one to watch them, is there?) and flies back to Jersey.

The day after the funeral, Gloria goes to the door when it rings and opens it, wondering if some elderly cousin got lost and arrived late. Instead, the woman on the other side is not the one she wants to see.

She opens the door only wide enough so she can lean against the doorframe. All the warmth from the previous week is gone. "What do you want?"

Mel Burke—dressed as herself, who is there to fool now?—stands meekly on the front step, flanked by her niece and nephew. She flinches at the Gloria's icy tone, but she lifts her chin.

"Can I see Joe?"

"No," Gloria answers shortly. "_They _can," she indicates Ryder and Lennox with a sharp jerk of her chin, "but he doesn't want to see you."

Mel glances to her left, clearly contemplating sending Lennox in to plead her case, but Lennox glares in response, and Mel seems to remember that she's the adult here. "I need to talk to him," she pleads quietly.

Gloria glares at her. "I thought you were a smart woman, Mel Burke. I thought you had a good head on your shoulders. But you swore a deathbed promise, and you refuse to stand by it, and now you're broken my son's heart. I don't want you in my house."

"Gloria, I…" Mel starts to protest, brushing her blonde curls out of her face, blue eyes desperate. She is cut off by Theresa, who peers around her mother and sneers.

"Well, look what we have here," she snarls, fixing Mel with a look that could peel paint. "Joey doesn't want to see you."

"Theresa, I have this," Gloria commands, but faced with two Longo women, Mel seems ready to back down. Lennox clears her throat, and Mel seems to find herself.

"I don't have to answer to you," she snaps, chin up, blue eyes flashing. She steps forward and crowds Gloria and Theresa, nearly on the threshold. "I need to talk to Joe."

"Why?" Theresa demands, all fire even in her grief. "You broke his heart, chased him away. Why should we let him talk to you?"

The pain of the last three days shadows Mel's gaze, and she drops it to study her feet. "I made a mistake," she says throatily, so softly that the other women have to lean in to hear. "Can I please talk to him?"

There is pain and desperation in her voice, and Gloria and Theresa glance at each other and step aside. Mel strides past them, head up, trying to pretend like she's not terrified of what might happen.

* * *

The soft knock on his door startles Joe. He lifts his head from the pillow and says quietly, "Ma, I'm not hungry."

The door opens, and the woman who steps into the room is the one he didn't think he would see again (but hoped he would). She closes the door behind her, and at the gentle _snick, _Joe sits completely upright, staring.

"Mel…" he breathes, unsure of what else to say.

Mel fidgets, wringing her hands together, unable to meet his gaze. She is dressed as Mel, not Tiffany, and as her blue eyes flick up to meet his, he is reminded of how desperate she looked three days ago, when he walked out of the house without a word.

But now, that desperation and longing is aimed at him, and his breath catches. Could she really want him that badly?

"Joe," she says simply, finally finding the courage to look him straight in the eye, "come home."

The words are a soft plea, and he has waited to hear them the last three days. But they aren't as fulfilling as he thought they might be.

"Why?" he demands, slowly getting off the bed and prowling towards her. "Why should I come home, Mel? So I can cook and clean and 'watch' the kids and pretend to be happy for you and Austin?" Maybe he shouldn't be so blunt in his line of attack, but he's tired, he's heartsick, he just buried his Nona yesterday, and the woman in front of him is responsible for most of that. So he doesn't feel like playing nice at that moment.

Some of the confidence drains from Mel, and she backs up a step in the face of his assault. "I…" she swallows hard, tries again. "I need you, Joe."

Joe stops a good foot away and folds his arms over his chest, eyeing her. "You need me? Where were you the last three days? Playing honeymoon with Austin? I was here, helping my family! You needed me? I needed _you_!"

The last word is bellowed, and Joe is sure the neighbors three blocks over heard him. His entire family is definitely aware of what's happening, now. Being able to vent some of his anger at his target is a wonderful feeling—for a half a second before he looks up and sees the tears standing in her eyes.

Guilt immediately rushes in, but he refuses to feel bad about that. Where has she been while he was helping his mother and family grieve, being the man of the family as he's always had to be? Every night, he's fallen into bed wishing for her, but she's been back in Ohio, seemingly uncaring. Why is she here now?

He repeats that question, and Mel flinches. She is moments away from crying, and Joe is standing there, looking hurt and tired and worn, and she can see the grief that he's been carrying for the last three days in the set of his shoulders. She moves forward without thinking, wanting to soothe it away, but he backs up for every step she takes, and the gulf between them doesn't seem to be one she can bridge.

"Why did you come, Mel?" His voice is low, and she senses that if she does not give him the honest he wants (deserves), she'll lose him forever.

"I was scared and I knew that Nona meant everything to you, so I said it to make her happy, but I kinda also meant it. We're good together Joe, even though I'm scared because like I said, my love life is a disaster, and I don't want to lose you. You're too important to me. I don't want to forget that night happened, because I want you with me, Joe." Her voice softens, and the torrent slows. "I want you with me. Come home."

During this impromptu speech, Joe's arms have dropped to his sides, and he has been watching her, his dark eyes flickering with emotions. Confusion, anger, annoyance, hope, what she thinks might be love…

She doesn't have any more time to dwell on it because his arms are around her and his lips are on hers and it's just like _that night _all over again and this is the only place she wants to be, scary as it is.

The gulf between them has been bridged by her words, sealed by his lips on hers, but there is still a shaky foundation, there are still cracks. As much as they both want to tumble back down onto that bed, and yes, she can tell they both want to, pressed up against him as she is, there are more things to be said.

"Come home," she whispers against his lips, but still he hesitates.

"Austin?"

"Gone," she says firmly, remembering the resignation in his eyes as he kissed her goodbye. He knew that she would not be alone when she returned.

Joe smiles against her mouth, and kisses her again. She melts back into his embrace, but before they can get too carried away, a voice interrupts them.

"Yeah, that's gonna take some getting used to."

Turning, they find Lennox and Ryder standing in the open doorway—when did the door open?—with Gloria, Theresa, and Tony hovering in the background. Ryder tilts his head. "Huh. Yeah, I agree with Lennox. That's gonna be kinda weird for awhile."

Mel glances back at Joe, rolling her eyes as he wraps an arm around her waist. "Your family is weird."

Joe presses a kiss against her hair and chuckles, relief spreading through his body, making him feel light for the first time in three days. "Your family too, Mel."

Mel hums her agreement and tilts her head up and back to look at him. "Are you coming home with us?"

Joe shakes his head, and he watches her face fall, her eyes fill with blind panic. She opens her mouth to say something, and he stops it with a kiss. "I need to stay here, help the family for a few more days. Then I'll be home."

Mel nods, then nods again as she makes a decision, voice firm. "We'll stay."

Lennox nods eagerly. "It's a good excuse to miss finals."

"Oh, no, you don't," Joe warns, stepping forward. "You're on the next plane home. You have to study."

As the argument commences, Mel wriggles past a furious Lennox and amused Ryder to stand before Gloria. "Hey, is it all right if I stay?"

The Longo matriarch gives her a long, measured look. Mel feels as if her soul hangs in the balance, but she stands and lets herself (willingly, even!) be judged.

Gloria slowly nods, and next to Theresa sniffs as Tony gives Mel a small smile. "You can stay," Gloria tells the younger woman, "but if you upset my Joey again…"

The threat hangs unspoken in the air between them, and Mel nods, not even trying to make a joke. Family is not a joke. "I understand," she says quietly. "Some things are too important."

The smile Gloria gives her is real this time. "I'm glad you figured that out, Mel Burke."

_Fin. _

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**A/N: Reviews are appreciated! **


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